Toy golf game



A ril 20, 1965 R. w. LECLERC 3,179,413

TOY GOLF GAME Filed Oct. 16, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 RAYMOND W. LE CLERC INVENTOR BY MW?) April 20, 1965 R. w. LECLERC 3,179,413

TOY sow GAME Filed Oct. 16, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 RAYMOND W. LECLERC INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,179,413 TOY GOLF GAME Raymond W. Leclerc, 962 Main St, Leominster, Mass. Filed Oct. 16, 1962, Ser. No. 230,951 2 Claims. (Cl. 27.3-87.4)

This. invention relates to a new and improved amusement device, and the principal object of the invention resides in the provision of a playing board to simulate actual playing field conditions, together with a miniature toy in simulation of the human form which has a swivel action between torso and legs so that the legs ean be held firmly fixed in position by one hand of the player and the torso can be sharply swivcled relative thereto; the torso is provided with a pair of arms which are adjustable along a. horizontal axis through the shoulders of the torso, said arms being joined at the hands and there forming a socket for the removable reception of a playing stick such as a golf club, baseball bat or the like so that a ball may be impelled by swivelling the torso relative to the legs of the toy figure, e.g. along a simulated golf course; and the provision of a miniature toy figure as above described including an interior pin lodged in the waist portion of the legs and extending upwardly through said waist portion into the torso, said pin being engaged with a handle portion which extends through the back of the torso and there being in addition a ring-like handle member separate from but firmly engaged to the legs so that the player holds the ring-like member with the forefinger and thumb of one hand and the handle with forefinger and thumb of the other hand and swivels the torso relative to the legs inorder to impel the ball by means of the playing stick; and the provision of a miniature human figure in the nature of a golfer in combination with a set of'golf-clubs of varying lengths, the adjustment of the arms as aforesaid accommodating the different lengths of golf-clubs so that with for instance a driver there is a greater are of swing when the ball is struck, and with the putter there is a minimum arc of swing with different lengths of golf-clubs inbetween the putter and the driver so that an actual game of simulated golf can be played on the playing surface.

The invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly set forth in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation showing the toy figure in different degress of adjusted relationship with respect to a set of golf-clubs;

FIG. 2 is a view in front elevation thereof;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale on line 33 of FIG. 1 illustrating the socket for the playing implement;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the legs per se;

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the legs per se;

FIG. 6 is a view of the handhold member;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view illustrating how the handle and torso pin are interengaged;

FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view through the shoulder of the torso showing the arm connection, and

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the playing field.

Referring first to FIG. 9 there is shown the simulated playing field, this being illustrated as agolf course. The golf course is made up of formed plastic or wooden members having a transverse depression running across it indicated at 12. The board is indicated at 10. The depression can be made waterproof and water put into it to simulate a brook. The main portion of the playing surface is flocked so that a simulated grass fairway is provided but this flocking is such as to still provide a fairly smooth area so that a ball landing on it will roll to some extent. There are provided as illustrated herein a set of four greens indicated at 14 and a set of nine tees arranged in different locations, the tees being indicated at 16. The tees are preferably slightly elevated and have ball tees on them at least in some instances.

The greens 14 are made of aerated latex, foamed cellular plastic, sponge rubber, or some similar material which 18 cut smoothly to provide a fiat surface upon which however a ball landing will tend to stop rather than to roll, the surface provided by the greens being soft as compared to the relatively hard surfaces on the fairways. The fairway area takes up all the rest of the board with exception of the tees and the. greens but can include real sand traps, bunkers, etc.

The figure utilized in playing the game is preferably molded of conventional plastic materials and includes three main parts which are the leg unit 18, the torso 20 and .the arm unit 22. The leg unit 18 includes a pair of legs as clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, these legs being joined, at the waist portion 24 terminating in a plane surface which inclines from the rear to the front as indicated by the line 26 in FIG. 1 and the corresponding surface shown in FIG. 4. The torso terminates in a complementary plane surface so that the torso is seen to be slightly inclined forwardly (see FIG. 1) more or less in the normal position of one playing golf. The leg unit is provided with a recess at the rear portion thereof, this being indicated at 28 (see FIGS. 5 and 7), this recess having a top wall 30 which is apertured at 32 for the reception of a headed pin 34, the head of the pin being indicated at 36. The pin extends upwardly through the hole 32 into a similarly shaped recess 38 in the torso unit 20 and this holds the parts together so that the torso can be swung relative to the leg unit.

The pin 34 is provided with a cross opening 40, and at the rearmost portion thereof the opening is provided with outstanding lips 42 which face each other. A handle 44 is provided with an arrowhead 46 which passes through a hole 48 in the rear area50 of the torso, penetrating the hole 40, the arrowhead 46 being wider than the distance between the lips 42 so that the handle firmly engages the pin 34, holding the same in the position shown in FIG. 7 and holding the parts together in a position where the handle 44 can be used to swivel the torso with respect to the legs.

The recess at 28 is closed by a closure member 52 mounted on a ring 54. 'The ring 54 is provided with a forwardly extending element 56 having thereon extending lips 58 which snap past and are then held by inwardly extending corresponding engaging lips 60 on the leg portion 18 of the device (see FIGS. 4-6), the lips 58 being slightly wider apart than are those at 60, thus holding the parts together with the closure member 52 closing the recess 28. A pair of laterally extending pins 62 are utilized on the ring 54 to position this part against the rear portion of the legs (see FIG. 1).

The shoulder portion 64 of the torso 20 is provided at each side of the torso with an indentation in annular form at 66. These indentations terminate in smaller portions 68 which receive pins 70 integral with the shoulders '72 of the arm unit 22 so as to hold the arm unit in place and provide adjustment of the arms so that the hands thereof may move generally in the up-and-down direction as indicated in FIG. 1. About the pinsthere are provided soft washers 74 that keep the arms in whatever position they are adjusted to so that there is no fear of losing the particular alignment of the parts which will be described hereinafter whenever an adjustment of the arm unit is made in order to accommodate a different length golf-club.

Any kind of golf club can be provided such as for instance a driver, a midiron, a wedge and putter. If for instance the driver is used as is indicated at 76 in FIG. 1 in solid lines, it will be seen that the shaft of the club is the longest of any of the clubs and that therefore when the correct adjustment of the arms is made and the player positions his toy figure in his correct alignment with the ball, a sharp swing of the torso by means of handle 44 While the ring 54 is held rigid by the other hand, results in a drive. This drive can be straight if all of the parts are correctly aligned, but it can also result in hooking or slicing if the alignment is not correct and in this connection it is pointed out that the socket which is indicated in FIG. 1 at 78 is a cylindrical socket which engages and removably holds the end 80 of the golf-club 76 or any of the other golf-clubs which may as stated be mashies, niblicks, putters, etc. The socket 78 is slotted at 82 for resilience in holding the club. This being the case it will be appreciated that the shaft of the club may be rotated slightly one way or the other so as to provide that the head of the club is closed or open and some experience is necessary in order to determine exactly what this adjustment should be, depending upon the shot that is to be made.

Using'the mashie or niblick, backspin can be put on the ball, and actual sand traps may be provided on the playing field and the ball may be blasted from such sand traps.

Of course when a midiron is used, the arms 22 will be moved down as shown in FIG. 1 because the shaft of the club is shorter than that of the driver; and of course the putter shaft is still shorter so that the putter is used as nearly upright as possible in order to make a straight putt. Here again however a slight rotational adjustment of the shaft in the socket of the figure provided by the hands will determine the line of flight of the ball whether it is a drive, a fairway shot, putt, etc.

Through the use of the simulated human figure, the player can experience the control of straight drives, hooking, slicing and backspin when hitting the greens and with some practice anyone can master the game and play par golf.

In making the shot the figure is held by inserting the index finger of the left-hand through the ring 54 with the thumb firmly placed on the top of the ring. The player then holds the handle 44 with the index finger of the right hand and the player is now prepared to effect the golf swing by moving the lever back and forth. In order to get the correct alignment and feel of the swing, the handle should be moved back and forth several times while holding the base of the foot unit firmly on the ground. The force of the swing will determine the distance of the shot made.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. A simulated toy human figure comprising in general a leg portion having a waist, and a torso portion, means pivoting the torso portion relative to the leg portion, the leg portion having a recess at the rear thereof and a circular aperture connecting the recess and the topmost portion of the leg portion which is at the waist, a headed pin in said aperture, the head of the pin being lodged in said recess in the leg portion, the pin extending into the torso, and a torso-actuating member at the rear of the torso and extending outwardly therefrom, said member including a part extending through a portion of the torso and engaging said pin so that the torso and the legs are held together but the torso is rotatable with respect to the legs.

2. The simulated toy human figure as recited in claim 1 including a handhold on the legs, said handhold comprising a portion thereof which encloses the recess at the rear portion of the leg member and conceals the head of the'pin, said handhold including another portion with a snap connection to and between the legs of the member, and a rearwardly extending portion to be grasped to hold the figure in fixed position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD C. PINKI-IAM, Primary Examiner.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Examiner. 

1. A SIMULATED TOY HUMAN FIGURE COMPRISING IN GENERAL A LEG PORTION HAVING A WAIST, AND A TORSO PORTION, MEANS PIVOTING THE TORSO PORTION RELATIVE TO THE LEG PORTION, THE LEG PORTION HAVING A RECESS AT THE REAR AND THE TOPMOST CIRCULAR APERTURE CONNECTING THE RECESS AND THE TOPMOST PORTION OF THE LEG PORTION WHICH IS AT THE WAIST, A HEADED PIN IN SAID APERTURE, THE HEAD OF THE PIN BEING LODGED IN SAID RECESS IN THE LEG PORTION, THE OIN EXTENDING INTO THE TORSO, AND A TORSO-ACTUATING MEMBER AT THE REAR OF THE TORSO AND EXTENDING OUTWARDLY THEREFROM, SAID MEMBER INCLUDING A PART EXTENDING THROUGH A PORTION OF THE TORSO AND ENGAGING SAID PIN SO THAT THE TORSO AND THE LEGS ARE HELD TOGETHER BUT THE TORSO IS ROTATABLE WITH RESPECT TO THE LEGS. 